Center server, charging facility registration system including same, and charging facility registration method

ABSTRACT

A center server includes a receiver that receives position information transmitted from an electric vehicle that can be charged externally, a processing unit and a storage device. The position information is on a charging facility at which the electric vehicle has been charged. The processing unit determines a standard or specification of the charging facility based on the position information received by the receiver, and associates standard/specification information indicating the standard or specification of the charging facility with the position information on the charging facility, and stores the associated information in the storage device.

This is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No.14/111,246 filed Oct. 11, 2013, which is a national stage ofInternational Application No. PCT/IB2012/000694 filed Apr. 5, 2012,which claims priority based on JP 2011-089285, filed Apr. 13, 2011, thecontents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a center server that relates to a chargingfacility for an electric vehicle that can be charged externally, acharging facility registration system that includes the center server,and a charging facility registration method.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventionally, there has been available a point registration devicethat registers a point in a moving body information system, for instancea car navigation system or a mobile phone terminal, regards the positionat which a moving body has been charged as a permanent location of acharging device, and registers the position (for instance, refer toJapanese Patent No. 3847065).

Also available is an on-board point registration device (for instance,refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-101854 (JP2010-101854 A)) that is appropriate for installation in plug-in hybridvehicles and electric vehicles that are equipped with a car navigationsystem. In the point registration device, position information on acharging point, at which a battery has been charged, is acquired, and onthe basis of the charging record at the charging point, it is determinedto which of the defined categories the charging point belongs, and thecharging point is associated with the determined category and withposition information, and is registered in a map database of a carnavigation system, as a point where charging is possible. The categoriesin the point registration device are classifications according tocharging frequency and charging time.

In addition to being charged at home, electric vehicles such as plug-inhybrid vehicles and electric vehicles have to be charged outdoors inorder to make up for the short travel range of the vehicles. However,charging facilities are as yet not sufficiently popularized orstandardized. Published information relating to charging facilities haslow precision, except for information relating to specific chargingfacilities. Unlike ordinary gas stations, for instance, chargingfacilities are small in scale. For example, in a case where the chargingfacility is disposed at a corner of a parking lot in a comparativelylarge leisure facility (for instance, a shopping mall), it may beunclear, on the basis of low-precision position information, where inthe leisure facility the charging facility is disposed, so that it maybe impossible to reach the charging facility. Even if the chargingfacility is eventually reached, differences in the standard orspecification of the charging facility, for instance differences in thepower source voltage of the charging facility, may render chargingimpossible at the charging facility.

In the inventions set forth in Japanese Patent No. 3847065 and JP2010-101854 A described above, position information is gatheredindependently for individual vehicles (moving bodies). Therefore, theposition information is of comparatively high precision, but it isdifficult to obtain information on charging facilities at which the hostvehicle does not stop over, or information on newly deployed chargingfacilities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a center server in which information thatindicates the specification or standard of a charging facility isregistered together with position information on the charging facility,which has high precision, a charging facility registration system thatincludes the center server, and a charging facility registration method.

A center server according to a first aspect of the invention includes: areceiver that receives position information transmitted from an electricvehicle that is able to be charged externally, the position informationbeing on a charging facility at which the electric vehicle has beencharged; a processing unit; and a storage device. The processing unitdetermines a standard or specification of the charging facilitypertaining to the position information received by the receiver, andassociates standard/specification information indicating the standard orspecification of the charging facility with the position information onthe charging facility, and stores the associated information in thestorage device.

A charging facility registration system according to a second aspect ofthe invention includes: the center server according the first aspect;and an on-board device that is installed in the electric vehicle, andthat transmits to the center server at least the position informationupon completion of charging, in the charging facility, of the electricvehicle on which the on-board device is installed.

A charging facility registration method according to a third aspect ofthe invention includes: receiving, by a center server, positioninformation transmitted from an electric vehicle that is able to becharged externally, the position information being on a chargingfacility at which the electric vehicle has been charged, anddetermining, in the center server, a standard or specification of thecharging facility, the position information on which is received; andassociating, in the center server, standard/specification informationindicating the standard or specification of the charging facility withthe position information on the charging facility, and storing theassociated information in a storage device.

According to the above-described aspects of the invention, it ispossible to provide the center server in which the information thatindicates the specification or standard of a charging facility isregistered together with the position information on the chargingfacility, which has high precision, a charging facility registrationsystem that includes the center server, and a charging facilityregistration method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance ofexemplary embodiments of the invention will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denotelike elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a chargingfacility registration system according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relevantportion of an on-board device;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a main process that isexecuted by a control device in the on-board device;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a main process executedin a center server;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of charging facilityinformation that is stored/registered in a charging facility database;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a way in which the centerserver provides charging facility information to a user;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a registration processexecuted in the center server; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of charging facilityinformation that is kept in a charging facility database (chargingfacility information before registration).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention are explained below with reference toaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a chargingfacility registration system 1 according to an embodiment of theinvention.

The charging facility registration system 1 includes a center server 10,and on-board devices 20 that are installed in electric vehicles that canbe charged in a charging facility. The electric vehicle that can becharged in a charging facility may be, for instance, a vehicle equippedwith a battery (refer to a battery 32 in FIG. 2) that is used as a powersource for a motor for driving the vehicle. The electric vehicle thatcan be charged in a charging facility is typically a plug-in hybridvehicle or an electric vehicle.

Hereafter, the electric vehicle that can be charged in a chargingfacility will be referred to simply as “vehicle”.

The center server 10 is disposed at a location away from the vehicles.The center server 10 may be disposed at each geographical area (forinstance, country or region) that is to be controlled. A plurality ofthe center servers may be disposed in the geographical area to becontrolled, in which case the center server 10 is configured in the formof an aggregate of the plurality of center servers. Briefly, chargingfacility information (described below) in each geographical area to becontrolled may be centrally managed by the center server 10 in thegeographical area. The center server 10 may be configured so as to becapable of exchanging charging facility information between geographicalareas to be controlled. To avoid an overly complex explanation, aninstance is described below, for convenience, wherein a specificgeographical area is controlled by one center server.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the center server 10 includes a receiver 12, aprocessing unit 14, a charging facility database 16 and a transmitter18. These functional units need not necessarily be disposed at one samelocation, and for instance the charging facility database 16 may bedisposed at a remote location away from the processing unit 14.

As schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, the receiver 12 receives acharging completion notification (described below) from the on-boarddevices 20 installed in respective vehicles. Any wireless communicationnetwork, for instance a mobile phone network, can be used herein forcommunication.

The processing unit 14 may be made up of an arithmetic processing devicesuch as a central processing unit (CPU). The function of the processingunit 14 may be realized by arbitrary items of hardware, software,firmware or combinations of the foregoing. For instance, arbitraryparts, or the entirety, of the function of the processing unit 14 may berealized by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or a digital signal processor (DSP)for specific application. The processing unit 14 mainly executes aregistration process of information relating to a charging facility. Thefunction of the processing unit 14 will be explained in detail furtheron.

The charging facility database 16 may be made up of a rewritable storagedevice, for instance a hard disk drive. The charging facility database16 may be configured in the form of an aggregate of a plurality ofstorage devices. The charging facility database 16 stores information(charging facility information) relating to charging facilities. Thecharging facility database 16 may have a data reposition region (FIG. 8)in which there is stored information for which a decision on whether theinformation is to be registered or not is still pending, and a dataregistration region (FIG. 5) in which there is stored charging facilityinformation that is to be registered.

As illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, the transmitter 18 may transmitor deliver charging facility information (described below) to a userterminal (for instance, a car navigation device or a smart phone)periodically (for instance, at fixed intervals or whenever the chargingfacility information is updated) or non-periodically (for instance, uponrequest by the user). As described below, the charging facilityinformation includes position information and standard/specificationinformation on the charging facility. The user terminal has anapplication that outputs (for instance, displays) the charging facilityinformation on the basis of the received charging facility information.For instance, a navigation device or smart phone may be configured so asto output a display that indicates the position of the chargingfacility, at a corresponding position on a map display (FIG. 6). Thenavigation device or smart phone may be configured so as to output, inresponse to an instruction by the user, detailed information (forinstance, the below-described standard/specification information) on thecharging facility. Alternatively, the charging facility information maybe incorporated into map data and be transmitted to the user terminal.In this case, the map data that is provided to the user terminal may beupdatable in accordance with updates of the charging facilityinformation.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relevantportion of an on-board device 20. The on-board device 20 is configuredto include the control device 22 as a main device, as illustrated inFIG. 2. The control device 22 may be made up of a microcomputer. Thefunction of the control device 22 may be realized by arbitrary items ofhardware, software, firmware or combinations of the foregoing.

A radio device 24 is connected to the control device 22. The radiodevice 24 may be a communication module, for instance a datacommunication module (DCM) that is used in a telematics service. Underthe control of the control device 22, the radio device 24 communicateswirelessly with the receiver 12 of the center server 10. For instance,the radio device 24 transmits a charging completion notification,generated in the on-board device 20, to the receiver 12 of the centerserver 10.

A global positioning system (GPS) receiver 26 is connected to thecontrol device 22. The GPS receiver 26 determines and calculates theposition of the vehicle on the basis of a GPS signal received from a GPSsatellite, via a GPS antenna 28. The vehicle position calculated by theGPS receiver 26 is supplied to the control device 22. The positioningmethod in the GPS receiver 26 may be any method, for instance pointpositioning, differential positioning (such as interferometricpositioning), inertial positioning or the like. The vehicle position maybe corrected on the basis of the output of various sensors, for instancea vehicle speed sensor or a gyro-sensor, and/or on the basis of variousinformation items that are received via a beacon receiver or a frequencymodulation (FM) multiplex receiver. The vehicle position may also beappropriately corrected on the basis of map matching, throughnon-periodical use of map data in a map database (not shown) of anon-board navigation device.

A power source monitoring device 30 is connected to the control device22. The power source monitoring device 30 detects the way in which thebattery 32 is charged in the charging facility (i.e. the connectionstate of a dedicated charging cable). The battery 32 is used as a powersource for a motor (not shown) for driving the vehicle. The power sourcemonitoring device 30 may determine the way in which the battery 32 ischarged in the charging facility on the basis of, for instance, a signal(for example, a divided voltage level of a pilot (CPLT) signal) from aunit on the side of the dedicated charging cable. Upon completion ofcharging of the battery 32 at the charging facility, the power sourcemonitoring device 30 notifies this fact to the control device 22. Uponcharging at the charging facility, the power source monitoring device 30may detect the power source type and/or power source voltage of thecharging facility on the basis of detected voltage (detected voltage ofa power wire) during charging, or on the basis of a signal from a uniton side of the charging cable. For instance, the power source type ofthe charging facility may include alternating current (AC) and directcurrent (DC). The specification of the power source voltage of thecharging facility may include 100 V and 200 V. When charging is beingperformed at the charging facility, the power source monitoring device30 may detect the type of the charging facility on the basis of thecharging speed (for instance, rate of increase in state of charge (SOC)with respect to time). For instance, the type of charging facility maybe ordinary charging equipment or fast charging equipment. For instance,a single-phase AC 100 V or 200 V power source is used in ordinarycharging equipment, and a three-phase AC 200 V power source is used infast charging equipment. The power source monitoring device 30 maysupply these information items, if detected, to the control device 22.The function of the power source monitoring device 30 may be realized bythe control device 22.

A vehicle information detection unit 34 is connected to the controldevice 22. The vehicle information detection unit 34 may be an on-boardsensor or electronic control unit (ECU) that detects various vehicleinformation items.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a main process that isexecuted by the control device 22 of the on-board device 20. The processroutine of FIG. 3 may be started upon detection of charging at thecharging facility.

In step 300, the control device 22 determines, via the power sourcemonitoring device 30, whether charging that is being currently carriedout at the charging facility is complete or not. If charging at thecharging facility is complete, the process proceeds to step 302.

In step 302, the control device 22 generates a charging completionnotification on the basis of, for instance, the current vehicle positionaccording to the calculation result by the GPS receiver 26. The chargingcompletion notification may be generated by incorporating informationindicating the current vehicle position into information that indicatesthat charging is complete. The charging completion notification mayinclude information relating to the power source type and the powersource voltage of the charging facility, and relating to the type of thecharging facility, if determined by the power source monitoring device30. The charging completion notification may include vehicleidentification information that is imparted to each vehicle. The vehicleidentification information may be an on-board device identification(ID), a vehicle identification number (VIN) (frame number) or the like.The explanation below corresponds to an instance where the vehicleidentification information is an on-board device ID.

The charging completion notification may be transmitted separately fromother information, for instance information indicating the vehicleposition. In this case, the other information, for instance theinformation indicating the vehicle position, is transmitted to thecenter server 10 in a manner such that the information is associated(one-to-one correspondence relationship) with information that indicatesthat charging at the charging facility is complete (successful). Toavoid an overly complex explanation, an instance is described belowwherein, for convenience, the other information, for instance theinformation indicating the vehicle position, is included in the chargingcompletion notification and transmitted to the center server 10.

In step 304, the control device 22 transmits the charging completionnotification generated in step 302 to the center server 10, via theradio device 24. The control device 22 transmits thus the chargingcompletion notification to the center server 10 each time the chargingis carried out at the charging facility. In a case where an attempt atcharging in the charging facility is unsuccessful on account of, forinstance, conflicting standards, the charging completion notification isnot transmitted to the center server 10. Nevertheless, a notificationindicating such charging incompatibility may be transmitted to thecenter server 10, since such notification may be useful for determiningthe standard or specification of the charging facility.

The information indicating the vehicle position included in the chargingcompletion notification in step 302 and transmitted to the center server10 is information that indicates the vehicle position at the time ofcharging, and essentially indicates position information on the chargingfacility. Therefore, each time a vehicle is charged at a chargingfacility, the center server 10 receives (gathers), as needed, positioninformation on the charging facility.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a main process executedby the center server 10.

In step 400, the receiver 12 receives the charging completionnotification that is transmitted by the on-board device 20 (see step 304in FIG. 3).

In step 402, the processing unit 14 determines the standard orspecification of the charging facility pertaining to the chargingcompletion notification that is received in step 400. Herein, thestandard or specification of the charging facility may include the powersource type (AC or DC) of the charging facility, and the power sourcevoltage (100 V, 200 V) of the charging facility. The standard orspecification of the charging facility may include information relatingto the specification of a charging outlet in the charging facility. Thespecification of the charging outlet in the charging facility may relateto the shape of the outlet, and may be, for instance, a locking-typeoutlet (refer to JIS C 8303, Annex A.25), a flat blade-type outlet for200 V (refer to flat blade-type 20A, JIS C 8303, Annex A.16), flatblade-type outlet for 100 V (refer to flat blade-type 15A, JIS C 8303Annex A.9), and retaining type outlet (JIS C 8303, Annex A.17). Thestandard or specification of the charging facility may includeinformation on the type of a pole-mounted charger, namely whether thecharger is cable-equipped or cable-less. In a cable-less chargingfacility, the user must bring a dedicated charging cable (dedicatedcharging cable furnished as an accessory to the vehicle). In acable-equipped charging facility, a cable is attached to the chargingfacility, and the user need not furnish a dedicated charging cable. Incase of a cable-equipped charging facility, the standard orspecification of the charging facility may include informationindicating the type of the charging facility. For instance, acable-equipped charging facility may be a simple charging facility, or ahighly functional charging facility (charging facility having an earthleakage circuit breaker, a charging controller and/or a communicationfunction).

In step 402, the processing unit 14 may determine the standard orspecification of the charging facility on the basis of variousinformation items that may be included in the charging completionnotification from the on-board device 20 (for instance, the power sourcetype of the charging facility and the power source voltage of thecharging facility). The processing unit 14 may determine the standard orspecification of the charging facility on the basis of vehicleidentification information that may be included in the chargingcompletion notification from the on-board device 20, since the vehicletype (vehicle model) is associated with the standard or specificationunder which that type of vehicle can be charged. In other words, acertain vehicle model may fail to conform to a given standard orspecification of the charging facility, and may not be able to becharged, but a different vehicle model may be charged in accordance withthe standard or specification of the charging facility. Therefore, suchan association may be used to determine the standard or specification ofthe charging facility. The processing unit 14 may determine the standardor specification of the charging facility on the basis of publishedinformation relating to the standard or specification of the chargingfacility. Such published information may be information directlynotified (published) by the charging facility. The processing unit 14may determine the standard or specification of the charging facility onthe basis of input information from an operator of the center server 10(typically, a manager that manages the center server 10). In this case,the operator may input information relating to the standard orspecification of the charging facility as a result of, for instance,independent inspection (such as field inspection). The processing unit14 may determine the standard or specification of the charging facilityon the basis of information from a user. In this case, the user mayprovide, to the center server 10, information relating to the standardor specification of the charging facility on the basis of informationthat has been obtained during charging. Such information may beincluded, for instance, in the charging completion notification and betransmitted, or may be associated with the charging completionnotification and be transmitted separately from the charging completionnotification. In the former case, the control device 22 of the on-boarddevice 20 may request the user to input “information relating to thestandard or specification of the charging facility”, for instance via aninteractive user interface. The above determination methods may be usedin the form of arbitrary combinations thereof

In step 404, the processing unit 14 generates charging facilityinformation, and stores and registers the information in the chargingfacility database 16, on the basis of the received charging completionnotification from the on-board device 20 in step 400, and on the basisof the determination result in step 402. The charging facilityinformation includes vehicle position information (i.e., positioninformation on the charging facility) included in the chargingcompletion notification from the on-board device 20, along withinformation (standard/specification information) relating to thestandard or specification of the charging facility as determined in step402. The position information on the registered charging facility may beposition information on the charging facility included in the chargingcompletion notification, as received from the on-board device 20,without modification, or may be corrected information. For instance, theprocessing unit 14 may correct the position information on theregistered charging facility on the basis of input information from theoperator of the center server 10. In this case, the operator of thecenter server 10 may input, on the basis of map data, a corrected valueso as to conform to the map. The operator may in this case register theposition of the charging facility on the map data. Alternatively, theoperator may input the corrected value on the basis of an average ordispersion of a plurality of position information items obtained fromvehicles relating to the same charging facility.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of charging facilityinformation that is stored/registered in the charging facility database16. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the charging facility information isstored/registered in the charging facility database 16 in a manner suchthat position information on the charging facility is associated withstandard/specification information on the charging facility. Forinstance, the charging facility information relating to a chargingfacility with a facility ID of “A005667” is stored/registered in amanner such that standard/specification information (AC1, AC2) isassociated with position information on the charging facility (latitude,longitude). Herein, AC1 indicates that the power source voltage of thecharging facility is AC 100 V, and AC2 indicates that the power sourcevoltage of the charging facility is AC 200 V. Also, DC indicates thatthe power source type of the charging facility is “DC”.

In the embodiment, thus, each time a vehicle is charged, informationrelating to the charging facility (position information on the chargingfacility and so forth) obtained during charging is supplied to thecenter server 10. Therefore, the center server 10 can gather effectivelyinformation relating to the charging facility, and can generate chargingfacility information with high precision. Unlike gas stations, chargingfacilities can be installed comparatively easily, and hence, newcharging facilities may be deployed in large numbers. The center server10 can nevertheless track and respond, with high precision, to changesin such charging facilities.

In the charging facility information registered in the charging facilitydatabase 16 of the embodiment, moreover, standard/specificationinformation on the charging facility is associated with positioninformation on the charging facility. The usefulness of the chargingfacility information can be enhanced thereby. In a case where, forinstance, the center server 10 provides the charging facilityinformation to a user, the user can learn not only the position of thecharging facility, but also whether the user's vehicle can be charged ornot at that charging facility, on the basis of thestandard/specification information. As a result, it becomes possible toprevent inconveniences that may occur when only the position of thecharging facility is provided. If, for instance, only the position ofthe charging facility is provided, an inconvenience may occur in that,after a vehicle has reached the charging facility, charging cannot beperformed there due to differences in the standard or specification ofthe charging facility, such as differences in the power source voltageof the charging facility. In the embodiment, by contrast, thestandard/specification information on the charging facility isassociated with the position information on the charging facility, whichallows preventing the occurrence of such an inconvenience. Therefore,the embodiment is appropriate for instances where, in particular, thestandards or specifications of the charging facilities are not unified,and, as a result, the vehicles (vehicle models) that are appropriate foreach charging facility are different.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the way in which thecenter server 10 provides the charging facility information to the user.FIG. 6 illustrates schematically an example of a screen in whichinformation based on the charging facility information as registered inthe charging facility database 16 is superposed on a map that isdisplayed on a user terminal (for instance, a navigation device or asmart phone).

In FIG. 6, marks P1 and P2 are marks that indicate the positions ofcharging facilities. Such marks may be displayed on a map display on theuser terminal. Herein, for instance, the mark P1 is a mark generated onthe basis of published information, and indicates a representativeposition (for instance, a central position) of a given facility. Themark P2, on the other hand, is a mark generated on the basis of thecharging facility information that is generated in accordance with theembodiment. In the embodiment, the position information on the chargingfacility as registered in the charging facility database 16 is vehicleposition information that is obtained by the on-board device 20according to the GPS receiver 26, and therefore has higher precisionthan the published information. Ordinarily, for instance, publishedinformation merely reports the presence of a charging facility in theparking lot of a leisure facility. By contrast, the position informationon the charging facility as registered in the charging facility database16 allows determining at which section of the parking lot of the leisurefacility the charging facility is present. This effect is particularlyuseful, since, unlike gas stations, charging facilities arecomparatively small-scale facilities (facilities whose locations aredifficult to find).

In FIG. 6, for instance, a configuration is also possible wherein thestandard/specification information on the charging facility is displayedupon selection (for example, upon touching) of the mark P2 by the user.As a result, the user can obtain the standard/specification informationon the charging facility along with the high-precision positioninformation, as described above.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a registration processexecuted by the center server 10. The registration process illustratedin FIG. 7 may be executed in the form of the process of step 404 in theflowchart of FIG. 4. The registration process illustrated in FIG. 7 isused in an instance where the charging completion notification includes,in addition to the position information on the charging facility,identification information on the vehicle. FIG. 8 is a diagramillustrating an example of charging facility information that is kept inthe charging facility database 16 (charging facility information beforeregistration)

In step 700, the processing unit 14 determines whether the positioninformation on the charging facility included in the received chargingcompletion notification indicates the position of a user's residence.For instance, the processing unit 14 determines whether the positioninformation on the charging facility indicates a user residence positionon the basis of residence position information on each user, which isregistered beforehand, and on the basis of the vehicle identificationinformation included in the charging completion notification.Alternatively, the processing unit 14 may determine whether the positioninformation on the charging facility indicates a user residence positionon the basis of input information from the operator of the center server10. If it is determined that the position information on the chargingfacility indicates the residence position of the user, the processproceeds to step 702; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 704.

In step 702, the processing unit 14 discards information that isincluded in the received charging completion notification. This allowspreventing, as a result, registration of charging facility informationrelating to a personal charging facility (charging facility that is notopen to unspecified users). In a case where, for instance, charging isperformed at a charging facility in a private location, for instance ahouse, a condominium, a building or the like, a corresponding chargingcompletion notification may be transmitted to the center server 10.However, registration of the charging facility in such a privatelocation can be prevented in that case. The on-board device 20 may beconfigured so as to determine/detect that charging has been performed ata charging facility in a private location. In this case, the on-boarddevice 20 may be configured in such a manner that, upon determinationthat charging has been performed at a charging facility in a privatelocation, no charging completion notification is transmitted to thecenter server 10. The determination process of step 700 may be omittedif all the on-board devices 20 have this configuration.

In step 704, the processing unit 14 determines whether charging of apredefined number Th of or more different vehicles is complete(executed) at the same position, on the basis of the vehicleidentification information and the position information on the chargingfacility included in the received charging completion notification. Thatis, the processing unit 14 determines whether or not the number ofdifferent on-board device IDs that provide position information on thesame charging facility is equal to or larger than the predefined numberTh. For instance, the processing unit 14 refers to the charging facilityinformation that is kept in the charging facility database 16 such asthe one illustrated in FIG. 8 (charging facility information beforeregistration), calculates the number of on-board device IDs that areassociated with the charging facility information that is substantiallyidentical to the position information on the charging facility ascurrently received, and determines whether the total number of on-boarddevice IDs that include the current on-board device IDs is equal to orlarger than the predefined number Th. The predefined number Th is athreshold value for determining whether the charging facility is apersonal charging facility or a public charging facility (chargingfacility open to unspecified users), and may be an arbitrary appropriatevalue. The predefined number Th may be, for instance, a value such as 2or 3. If it is determined that charging of the predefined number Th ofor more different vehicles is complete at the same position, then theprocess proceeds to step 708; otherwise, the process proceeds to step706.

In step 706, the processing unit 14 keeps the charging facilityinformation generated on the basis of information included in thereceived charging completion notification. The kept charging facilityinformation may be generated similarly on the basis of the determinationresult in step 402 in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 4, or may begenerated using only information included in the received chargingcompletion notification. Thus, the charging facility information is keptas a registration candidate if it is not yet determined whether thecharging facility is a personal charging facility or a public chargingfacility. That is, there is generated the charging facility informationkept in the charging facility database 16 as illustrated in FIG. 8(charging facility information before registration).

In step 708, the processing unit 14 determines whether the positioninformation on the charging facility included in the received chargingcompletion notification is already registered or not. For instance, theprocessing unit 14 compares the position information on the chargingfacility included in the received charging completion notification, withthe charging facility information stored/registered in the chargingfacility database 16 such as the one illustrated in FIG. 5, anddetermines whether the position information pertaining to the samecharging facility is registered or not. This determination may becarried out by determining whether or not a deviation in the positioninformation on the charging facility lies within a predefined error. Ifthe position information pertaining to the same charging facility isregistered, the process proceeds to step 714. If there is registered noposition information pertaining to the same charging facility, theprocess proceeds to step 710.

In step 710, the processing unit 14 registers the charging facilityinformation generated on the basis of the information included in thereceived charging completion notification. The registered chargingfacility information may be generated similarly on the basis of thedetermination result of step 402 in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 4.The charging facility information relating to a charging facilitydetermined to be a public charging facility is registered thus. That is,there is generated the charging facility information (already-registeredcharging facility information) that is registered in the chargingfacility database 16 such as the one illustrated in FIG. 5. Examples ofpublic charging facilities include charging facilities that are locatedat leisure facilities such as shopping malls, as well as car dealers,convenience stores, public facilities, service areas, hospitals,pay-by-the-hour parking lots and the like.

If there is obtained new standard/specification information that isdifferent from the already-registered standard/specificationinformation, on the basis of the charging completion notificationcurrently received, the new standard/specification information may beadditionally registered in the charging facility database 16, even if,in step 708, the position information pertaining to the same chargingfacility is already registered. In this case as well, the newstandard/specification information may be additionally registered in thecharging facility database 16 if the new standard/specificationinformation is provided from a predefined number of or more differentvehicles.

In step 712, the processing unit 14 determines whether the chargingfacility information currently registered in step 710 corresponds topublished information. The published information may be informationdirectly notified (published) by the charging facility. The processingunit 14 may determine whether the charging facility informationcurrently registered in step 710 corresponds to published information,on the basis of the input information from the operator of the centerserver 10. The published information may have low precision,particularly in terms of the position information. Therefore, theposition information may lie within a predefined error range. Thepredefined error may be decided in accordance with the size of thefacility at which the charging facility is located, since the positioninformation based on published information may correspond to a centralposition in the building (site) where the charging facility isinstalled. If the currently registered charging facility informationcorresponds to published information, the process proceeds to step 714;otherwise, the process ends there.

In step 714, the processing unit 14 increases the accuracy (reliability)of the charging facility information that is registered in the chargingfacility database 16 and that is pertaining to the charging completionnotification currently received. More specifically, the accuracy of thecharging facility information currently registered in the chargingfacility database 16 is increased in a case where the charging facilityinformation corresponds to published information (see step 712). If theposition information pertaining to the same charging facility is alreadyregistered (see step 708), there is increased the accuracy of thealready-registered charging facility information pertaining to thatcharging facility. For instance, the processing unit 14 may increase theaccuracy by a predefined accuracy AP each time. In this case, theaccuracy P may be expressed by P=P₀+ΔP×N, wherein an initial value is P₀(P=100 when P>100). Thus, as the number of vehicles, from which thecharging completion notification relating to the same charging facilityis received, increases, the accuracy of the charging facilityinformation pertaining to the charging facility is increased. Theaccuracy is the accuracy of the charging facility information itself,and may be accuracy that indicates that the charging facility pertainingto charging facility information is a public charging facility. Thus,the accuracy may be decided in consideration of whether the chargingfacility information is published as information on a public chargingfacility, and/or in consideration of the number of different on-boarddevice IDs that provide position information on the same chargingfacility.

In a configuration where, as described above, information relating to acharging facility (for instance, position information on the chargingfacility), which is obtained each time a vehicle is charged, is providedto the center server 10, the center server 10 can efficiently gatherinformation relating to the charging facility, and can generate chargingfacility information with high precision. By contrast, however,information relating to a charging facility that is not public, forinstance a home charging facility of an individual, may also be providedto the center server 10. Providing such charging facility information ona non-public charging facility to other users is pointless (sincecharging is not possible there), and, on the contrary, may beinconvenient (for instance, a user may find out that charging is notpossible at the charging facility of a personal (third party's)residence, after having been led to that charging facility).

The center server 10 determines thus, according to the processillustrated in FIG. 7, whether the charging facility is a chargingfacility that can be used by an unspecified user, with regard to theinformation relating to the charging facility, which is received fromeach vehicle. If the center server 10 determines that the chargingfacility can be used by an unspecified user, the center server 10registers the information relating to the charging facility. Therefore,the process illustrated in FIG. 7 allows appropriately preventingregistration of charging facility information on a charging facilitythat is not public. The center server 10 may register charging facilityinformation on a charging facility that is not public, separately fromcharging facility information on a public charging facility, but withoutproviding, to the user, the charging facility information on thecharging facility that is not public.

Through the process illustrated in FIG. 7, the center server 10 decidesand gives the accuracy (reliability) of the charging facilityinformation registered in the charging facility database 16. Therefore,for instance, it becomes possible for the user to determine the accuracyof the charging facility information, when the charging facilityinformation is provided to the user. Alternatively, it is possible toemploy a method in which only charging facility information withaccuracy equal to or higher than a predefined level is provided to theuser.

The embodiments of the invention have been explained above, but theinvention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and theinvention may accommodate various modifications and alterations withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

In the above-described embodiments, for instance, the envisaged chargingfacility is a contact-type charging facility in which charging ofvehicles is performed through connection via a charging cable. However,contact-less charging facilities and vehicles in which charging can beperformed in a contact-less manner may be upcoming. Therefore, thestandard/specification information may include also informationindicating whether the charging facility is of contact type orcontact-less type.

1. A center server comprising: a controller configured to: acquireposition information, which is information indicating a position of acharging facility capable of charging an electric vehicle, determine atleast one of a standard or a specification supported by the chargingfacility, and associate at least one of the standard or thespecification supported by the charging facility with the position ofthe charging facility, wherein the standard or the specificationincludes a category or charger type of the charging facility.
 2. Thecenter server according to claim 1, wherein the standard or thespecification supported by the charging facility is determined based onidentification information of the electric vehicle charged in thecharging facility.
 3. The center server according to claim 1, whereinthe center server receives a charging incompatibility notification fromthe electric vehicle if the electric vehicle is not able to be chargedat the charging facility.
 4. The center server according to claim 3,wherein the charging incompatibility notification includes the positioninformation.
 5. The center server according to claim 1, wherein thecenter server is located remotely from the charging facility.
 6. Thecenter server according to claim 1, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to, based on receiving standard/specification information,determine the at least one of the standard or the specification of thecharging facility.
 7. The center server according to claim 6, whereinthe standard/specification information includes information relating toat least one of: whether a power source type of the charging facility isalternate current or direct current, or a magnitude of a power sourcevoltage of the charging facility, and the controller is configured to:determine the standard or the specification of the charging facility onthe basis of the information relating to at least one of: whether thepower source type of the charging facility is alternate current ordirect current, or the information relating to the magnitude of thepower source voltage.
 8. The center server according to claim 6, whereinthe controller is further configured to: associate thestandard/specification information indicating the at least one of thestandard or the specification supported by the charging facility withthe position information, and store the associated information in amemory.
 9. The center server according to claim 1, wherein thecontroller is further configured to: receive a charging incompatibilitynotification including identification information of the electricvehicle transmitted from the electric vehicle when the electric vehicleis not able to be charged externally at the charging facility, determinethe at least one of the standard or the specification of the chargingfacility on the basis of the charging incompatibility notification, andprovide an update to another electric vehicle that is different from theelectric vehicle by transmitting displayable information that includesat least one of: the determined at least one of the standard or thespecification of the charging facility or the position information ofthe charging facility.
 10. The center server according to claim 1,wherein the controller is further configured to: receive a chargingcompatibility notification including identification information of theelectric vehicle transmitted from the electric vehicle when the electricvehicle is able to be charged externally at the charging facility,determine the at least one of the standard or the specification of thecharging facility on the basis of the charging compatibilitynotification, and provide an update to another electric vehicle that isdifferent from the electric vehicle by transmitting displayableinformation that includes at least one of: the determined at least oneof the standard or the specification of the charging facility or theposition information of the charging facility.
 11. The center serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one controller is configuredto: receive identification information of the electric vehicle thattransmits the position information from the electric vehicle that isable to be charged externally at the charging facility; determine, onthe basis of the identification information of the electric vehicle thatis able to be charged externally at the charging facility, whether theposition information pertaining to the same charging facility isreceived from a predefined number or more of electric vehicles; and whenthe position information pertaining to the same charging facility isreceived from the predefined number or more of electric vehicles,determine that the charging facility is able to be used by the public.12. The center server according to claim 1, wherein the controllerdetermines an accuracy of registered information pertaining to each of aplurality of charging facilities.
 13. The center server according toclaim 12, wherein as the number of electric vehicles, from which thereceiver has received the position information relating to the samecharging facility, increases, the controller increases the accuracy ofthe registered information pertaining to the charging facility.
 14. Acharging facility registration system comprising: the center serveraccording to claim 1; and an on-board device that is installed in theelectric vehicle that is able to be charged externally at the chargingfacility, and that transmits to the center server at least the positioninformation upon completion of charging, in the charging facility, ofthe electric vehicle on which the on-board device is installed.
 15. Thecenter server according to claim 12, wherein the identificationinformation includes at least one of: on-board device identificationinformation, a vehicle identification number (VIN), or vehicle modelinformation of the electric vehicle.
 16. A computer-implemented methodfor charging facility registration, the computer-implemented methodcomprising: acquiring position information, which is informationindicating a position of a charging facility capable of charging anelectric vehicle, determining at least one of a standard or aspecification supported by the charging facility, and associating atleast one of the standard or the specification supported by the chargingfacility with the position of the charging facility, wherein thestandard or the specification includes a category or charger type of thecharging facility.